1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rear seat cushion in a motor vehicle, and more particularly to improvements in a rear seat cushion in a motor vehicle, of the type, for example, that has a back door and a rear seat cushion designed to be moved forward to an erect position and a backrest designed also to be moved foward, so that the loading or cargo space in the rear portion of the vehicle is expanded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the so-called box-type vehicles such as a light van, station wagon and the like, having a back door, it has been customary to pivot the backrest of a rear seat to forwardly to expand thereby the loading space at the rear of the vehicle. However, in some cases where the backrest is merely pivoted forward onto the top surface of a fixed seat cushion, the rear surface of the backrest is inclined to a considerable extent to the deck or a large difference in height is created between the rear surface of the backrest and the surface of a deck, thereby to lessen the usefulness of the loading space.
In contrast to the above, there is shown in FIG. 5, for example, a seat cushion 1 which is adapted to be pivoted by rotating about a hinge 2 at the lower forward portion of the seat cushion. A backrest 3 is moved forwardly down into the space vacated by the pivoting of the seat cushion 1. This construction is shown in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 149804/1981 by the present applicant.
The above-described conventional rear seat cushion has a pivoting or pull-up mechanism which utilizes a hinge 2 to permit the rear seat cushion 1 to move or pivot in a circular motion centered about the hinge 2 relative to the original position, thus presenting the disadvantage of having smaller loading space dimensions than would be the case were the rear seat cushion pivoted further forward.
As against the above, when the rear seat cushion 1 is designed to be provided as far forwardly as possible in order to make the loading space dimensions larger, it requires that the leg space formed forwardly or the rear seat cushion 1 be narrowed, thus sacrificing the comfort of passengers sitting on the rear seat cushion 1.
Furtheremore, when the hinge 2 is made large and the locus of circular motion centered about the hinge 2 is made large in order to expand the loading space dimensions, the operating force needed to pull up the rear seat cushion 1 in increased, thereby presenting a disadvantage in handling. This increase in force is needed because the distance from the center of the hinge 2 to the center of gravity of the rear seat cushion 1 has been increased.